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Real public servants are free enterprising individuals who, inspired, embrace challenge, take risks, and create, sometimes big, and often, they create jobs in the process, all out of their ideas, and self initiative...

Thursday, March 24, 2011

UPDATE: Call these Three Republican Assemblymen and Five Republican Senators and tell them to vote to End Redevelopment in California Now!

The Redevelopment Lobby, the California Redevelopment Association and League of Cities is using Prop 22 as an argument. Here are Bob Blue's quick thoughts on a counter point when you face their argument for Prop 22, which is designed to protect Redevelopment Funds:

If Redevelopment Agencies are abolished, there are no funds to save. The Property Tax funds would now go as they already are distributed without a Redevelopment agency instead of giving public funds to private developers who are politically connected and give the right campaign contributions (i.e. corruption). Now everybody competes on a level playing field without taxpayer's footing the bill of the politicians friends.

Here is an article on Prop 22: http://www.halfwaytoconcord.com/proposition-22-exposes-california-redevelopment-agency-abuses/

And, from Christina Walsh of the Castle Coalition,
Friends:

The fight to eliminate redevelopment continues. We need you to call the following legislators FIRST THING TOMORROW (THURSDAY) MORNING [the bill did not come up on Thursday so make it first thing Friday morning) and tell them to support the elimination of redevelopment in California:

Assemblyman Allan Mansoor: (916) 319-2068

Assemblyman Jim Nielsen: (916) 319-2002

Assemblyman Brian Jones: (916) 319-2077

Assemblyman Don Wagner: (916) 319-2070

Senator Doug La Malfa: (916) 651-4004

Senator Ted Gaines: (916) 651-4001

Senator Tony Strickland: (916) 651-4019

Senator Mimi Walters: (916) 651-4033

Senator Anthony Cannella: (916) 651-4012

This is an incredible and historic opportunity to finally end eminent domain abuse in California. Please take five minutes to call the above legislators today. Then forward this e-mail to everyone you know...

This is a David versus Goliath battle. The redevelopment lobby may be well-funded and well-connected, but we’re right...
(Christina finished that last sentence with "and David always wins." But the truth is he doesn't always win. People have lost their homes, hopes, and dreams to Redevelopment's abusive practices. It's up to you to help "right" to win.

"If a widespread pattern of [knock-and-announce] violations were shown . . . there would be reason for grave concern."—Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, in Hudson v. Michigan, June 15, 2006.An interactive map of botched SWAT and paramilitary police raids, released in conjunction with the Cato policy paper "Overkill: The Rise of Paramilitary Police Raids," by Radley Balko. What does this map mean?How to use this mapView Original Map and Database

Key

Death of an innocent.

Death or injury of a police officer.

Death of a nonviolent offender.

Raid on an innocent suspect.

Other examples of paramilitary police excess.

Unnecessary raids on doctors and sick people.

The proliferation of SWAT teams, police militarization, and the Drug War have given rise to a dramatic increase in the number of "no-knock" or "quick-knock" raids on suspected drug offenders. Because these raids are often conducted based on tips from notoriously unreliable confidential informants, police sometimes conduct SWAT-style raids on the wrong home, or on the homes of nonviolent, misdemeanor drug users. Such highly-volatile, overly confrontational tactics are bad enough when no one is hurt -- it's difficult to imagine the terror an innocent suspect or family faces when a SWAT team mistakenly breaks down their door in the middle of the night.But even more disturbing are the number of times such "wrong door" raids unnecessarily lead to the injury or death of suspects, bystanders, and police officers. Defenders of SWAT teams and paramilitary tactics say such incidents are isolated and rare. The map above aims to refute that notion.